


Moonstruck

by LunaClarea



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-23 02:43:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9637406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaClarea/pseuds/LunaClarea
Summary: Keith and Lance may be comrades in the fight against Zarkon and his forces, but their inner turmoil and unspoken feelings force tensions between the boy's to rise. More so after they are pulled through a portal and plummeted to another world where they must work together to fight against their foes and face their faces.





	

Lance was infuriating, it was the one thing Keith was certain of, but that didn't stop him from wanting to be around him at any given moment.  
He didn't know why, but he'd found himself trailing behind Lance as he walked through the halls of the ship just after he'd told Allura he was tired after their most recent fight with the Galra; a fruitless fight that left the entire team shaken and dismayed despite their narrow escape thanks to Pidge's quick thinking and Shiro's leadership.  
Lance wasn't at all aware of Keith's presence and Keith was glad for it, but he couldn't help but wonder what he'd expected when he'd begun absently following his comrade. He stopped a few metres behind - pressing himself thin against the wall - as Lance entered his room, the door flew open and then quickly closed as he disappeared through it. Keith felt a pain in his lower lip, realizing he'd been biting it the entire time he'd been following the other boy, the coppery taste of blood touched his tongue with a familiar bitterness. His teeth freed the lip as he exhaled, running a shaking hand through his hair. _Expect nothing and you'll not be disappointed._ He repeated the verse in his head, a verse he remembered from a forgotten time in his childhood. A memory of a voice with no face. He stepped forward, slow and quiet, towards Lance's door but stopped a little away from it, careful not to activate its sensors and allow it to open for him automatically, making the decision for him to face Lance. He couldn't move - blood turned to ice, muscles to stone. There he stood, feeling completely ridiculous, opposite the room that held that infuriating boy who he cared so much for. Cared too much for. He felt as though he'd made his decision - perhaps a terrible decision - as his body began to move forward when suddenly Allura's voice sounded all around.  
"Paladins, we have trouble! Keith, Lance, get back here now!" Her voice was loud and intense, as it often was when danger awaited. Next to Shiro, she was the perfect leader and despite her title as Princess, she was much more than that. Keith could understand why Lance had fallen for her when they'd first found the castle-ship, a reason behind Keith's jealousy of the Princess which he yearned to let go of, he loved her as he did the rest of his team mates; they were a family he'd never even dreamed he'd want or have. Keith was profoundly happy when Shiro and Allura had announced their relationship just a month ago, but as much as he wanted to remain positive, it also left a bitterness in him; a void grew in his chest, leaving him with an aching for the courage to tell Lance his true feelings.  
The door in front of him flew open and before Keith could back away his and Lance's heads crashed into one another with a painful force that pushed the boys in opposing directions.  
"What the-? Keith?! What the hell are you doing?!" Lance sounded more confused than angry, but that damn voice of his was enough to irk Keith, never mind the look on his face.  
"I-I was coming to get you!" He lied through gritted teeth. His arms stretched outwards at either side of himself. "Didn't you hear Allura? There's trouble."  
"You're a pretty terrible liar, you know that?" Lance jested whilst pushing his shoulder into Keith as he passed, who rubbed a hand across his own aching forehead. Lance stole a sideways glance at Keith, an inexplicable look in his eyes that made Keith's heart beat just a little quicker in his chest. His blue eyes were soft, inviting, but clouded with something Keith couldn't identify quick enough. Lance was gone, leaving Keith stood alone, his eyes blurring as he stared after the blue paladin. The low droning and occasional buzz of the ship the only sound.  
  
*  
  
"Keith, you're here." Allura was stood within a circle of pale blue light, Coran not far from her side, a hand over his chin as he scanned the transparent screens around the Princess who was preoccupied with Keith's arrival; her face struck with concern. Lance turned as the door swiped up, and Keith entered the room. Each of the team - still dressed in their suits from the battle they endured that morning - held the same gaze as Allura. Looks that Keith wasn't familiar with being directed to him. He must've looked as despondent as he felt. Lance arched an eyebrow, his arms crossed over his chest as he held eye contact with Keith for a moment longer than the others had.   
"We've sighted a Galra ship ahead, it doesn't seem to be the same one we just escaped, but it's not moving. We need to investigate. Everybody to your lions." Allura continued, her furrowed brows, sharp tone and the way her eyes flickered from the Paladins spoke urgency.  
"Sure thing, Princess." Lance nodded with a crooked smile, spinning around and running in Keith's direction, whose body stiffened. He cursed under his breath, feeling weak from his emotions, wondering why such a boy like Lance had the ability to make Keith's blood boil like hell fire, his body turn to ice or to water, his heart to beat so relentlessly against his chest and his mind to be consumed with thoughts of him. He hated it, and he loved it. He'd never felt so many strong and conflicting emotions. A fist jabbed into his chest, forcing him from his reverie. Keith blinked, feeling as though he were pulled down from the sky and had rested his feet on solid ground for the first time in a long time. Lance's face was inches away from his and Keith felt a heat rush to his face and slowly consume his body as his gaze lingered on the few minuscule moles that dotted Lance's tan skin like stars in the first hour of the night sky.  
"You in there, Keith?" Lance, an eyebrow still raised, leant further into Keith. Then he sighed, pulling back and resting his hands on his hips. "You know, we're part of this team called Voltron. Defenders of the Universe and all that. So it'd be nice if you could stop day dreaming about knives and fighting and - well, whatever - and actually join us and do some real fighting. Like, right now, in real life, fighting Galra. Saving the world."  
"Yeah. Right." Rolling his eyes, not meeting them with Lance's, he turned away from the other boy and walked out the open door. Watching as Shiro, Hunk and Pidge rushed ahead down the long corridor. They all headed for their lions now. Keith fell into a run, hearing Lance's footsteps behind him along with the boy's incoherent mumbling. Probably something about his intolerance for Keith. After traversing the maze-like corridors of the ship that had over time become as familiar to Keith as his own mind, he found himself in the familiar comfort of his lion and the two exited the ship as one. Entering out into the blackness of space, bespeckled with sparkling stars that felt close enough to touch, Keith made his way to meet with the other Paladins who had gathered at a side of the ship.  
"Hunk and Pidge head for the left flank of the ship." Shiro's steady voice sounded within Red. "Keith and Lance, the right."  
"Me with Keith?" Lance's voice cracked, and Keith imagined the boy's mouth agape and face scrunched in protest behind his helmet. "Shiro-He's-I'm-"  
"Lance." Like Allura, Shiro's voice was strong and commanding. Not somebody you could easily disobey. "We work as a team or not at all. I'll go head on. And if we can't take it down this way, we fall back and form Voltron at my command."  
"Got it." Hunk was the first to agree to Shiro's plan. Pidge followed, mimicking his words with determination.  
"We'll get it done, Shiro." Keith answered, finally feeling as though his moment of weakness was past him; thoughts of Lance no longer infiltrated his mind, instead replaced with fighting tactics and battle plans, the control to Red and how he'd use her to help take down the enemy. After all, why should he be so hung up on a boy who hated him so much?  
"Let's go." Lance yelled lastly. The Paladins, sticking in their groups, flew towards the Galra ship. It loomed ahead and above like a dark moon, floating among the darkness and the glittering blankets of stars that lit up their surroundings. Keith led Lance to the right of the ship, they flew close and low, turning slowly as they rose up to meet the side of it. Hunk and Pidge had taken a similar approach to the left of the ship where the green and yellow lions looked like smudges of watercolour against the black. Keith pulled his focus back to the enormous Galra ship, the silver gleam and purple glow of it's lights casting a peculiar and unfamiliar light over the screens within his own lion.  
"Everyone in position?" Shiro's tone was smooth and clear. Lance and Hunk simply affirmed.  
Suddenly an explosion of white-blue light consumed the enemy ship, hurtling the lions backwards. Keith gasped for air, the force sucking it out of his lungs. He gritted his teeth, a growling in his dry throat as his fingers gripped hard around the handles of Red, trying to keep himself steady despite the continuous, dizzying spinning of his lion. He could hear his team mates yelling and screaming in shock, fear and confusion. The noises invaded his brain like shrapnel - then came the long hum of static as Red finally regained some balance and floated in space. Keith bowed his head, his chin grazing his heaving chest.  
"Keith! Are you okay?" Lance. His voice was loud and cracked, sharp, yet edged with concern."Keith?!" It became more of a plea. A question that he was unsure he'd ever get the answer to.  
"Lance - What -" Breathless, the words stung his chest, sliced in his throat. "I can't -"  
"What the hell, Keith? You're alive, right? Talk to me or I swear I will kill you!" He growled, only ushering a laugh from Keith, which only irritated Lance further who retorted with a chorus of Altean curses that he'd picked up from an unaware Coran. The pain came again and the laugh burst into a violent cough, Keith pressed a palm against his mouth. When he pulled it away, his coughs ceased and drops of deep red dotted his glove.  
"Damn it." He muttered, low enough in hopes that Lance would be unable to hear the obvious pain in his breathless voice. Each breath cut deeper and deeper inside his throat like shattered glass embedded in his flesh. He couldn't let Lance know, the blue paladin's shaking voice already held an inordinate amount of worry.  
Despite his harsh and panicked tone, Keith found Lance's overpowering voice comforting in a strange way that made his eyes flutter half closed as he seemed to be sucked in and out of darkness. "And another thing, you-" Lance's words met an abrupt end, leaving Keith once again with only the static of space's silence. The odd buzz and drone of Red rung in his ears, until a scream muffled by distance filled the air. Was it Lance? Keith felt his body rocketing and spiraling, a pressure forcing his entire body back against his seat. Something sharp exploded in his chest and the scream crept closer and closer until he felt in his throat and his hearing restored; he realized he'd been screaming. Not Lance. Everything in his body screamed for help as Red and Keith were sucked into the ball of electric light that had taken the place of the enemy ship. Everything was white and blue, remnants of purple from the Galra ship remained, but in the mess of colour Keith saw no familiarity; no Shiro, no Hunk, no Pidge, no castle ship. Not even Lance and Blue. He pulled his wet eyes shut against the illumination outside his lion and braced for whatever he would next face; be it death or eternal solitude in space.


End file.
